Homegrown Art with Maggie Blackwell: The Journey along the Yellow Line
Maggie Blackwell’s “Tool Pusher Trailer”
Artist Maggie Blackwell at TC Gallery
By Cougar Echo Staff: Josiah Birkbeck, Lisa Ybarra, Mickey Van Horn, Michael Clites, Nick Kawano, Bruce Gray, and Brenda Magana
Maggie Blackwell, local artist, took time to speak with the Cougar Echo Staff about her current exhibit at the Taft College Art Gallery. The showing features paintings of regional subjects of local interest including oilfield equipment and scenery.
Blackwell’s medium for this exhibit is pure-pigment chalk pastels on 600 grit archival sandpaper which magnificently reflects light adding to the vividness of the works. Works include studies in landscapes—Sequoia, Kern County, and Eastern Sierra—and Americana including motel signs and Airstream trailers.
She is also working on a children’s book featuring “Beulah” the Airstream Trailer, a character that evokes fond memories from her childhood and her experiences and travels following “the never-ending yellow line of the highway.” The artist started her career with oil-based paint, then went into water colors to protect her children from the fumes of the oils, and has been using chalk since 2001. She says she now owns over 3,000 pieces of chalk of varying colors.
GOING places . . . Taft College Alumni Exhibit # 3 also includes stonework/ceramic by Jovanne Ayala and is now open in the TC Art Gallery and will run until April 15th. Hours are Monday-Thursday 9AM to 4PM and Friday 9AM to 12PM.
“Balanced” by Blackwell
Landscape by Blackwell